I seam to be having a problem right at the start of the game. I start, I talk to the magic guys and kill the 3 elementals... then i go downstairs and the orcs attack... but for some reason i can not cast any spells in this battle. Both my cleric and my Wizard have no options to cast anything.

So how dose magic work.. I can not see a "mana" bar... but I seam to have "run out" or something as I can not cast anything... not even an option.

See this is at the end of the fight... my wizard is dead already... but you can se how the clerics turn is up and there is no kind of cast spell like there was in the first fight... ?

1) Possibly you forgot to raise their key attributes to the minimum required for casting level 1 spells? Seems unlikely, but thats the only thing I can think of.. Wizards need a minimum of 11 int to cast level 1 spells. Clerics need 11 wisdom. (though obviously they should be a lot higher than that)

3) Did you rest? You can only cast a certain number of spells per day.

If one of your party members dies, you're pretty much screwed. There are ways of getting them back again but they are really costly. Better to reload and try again.

I will say this, that first fight is REALLY hard even WITH spells, and it might take you a while to finish it. My only advice is: help the knights as they fight the orcs, don't try to do it on your own.

Yosharian wrote:3) Did you rest? You can only cast a certain number of spells per day.

This is the problem... how do i know how many I can cast? What I have been doing is making lots of scrolls but this means I am 100% broke all of the time. For now I am wondering about the map having random encounters, as any "story" encounters just kill me instantly. Like the lizard men, or the spiders in the cave stuff like that.

Yosharian wrote:3) Did you rest? You can only cast a certain number of spells per day.

This is the problem... how do i know how many I can cast? What I have been doing is making lots of scrolls but this means I am 100% broke all of the time. For now I am wondering about the map having random encounters, as any "story" encounters just kill me instantly. Like the lizard men, or the spiders in the cave stuff like that.

I'd recommend a visit to the How To Play section on this web site, especially the How To Cast a Spell part. KOTC can take some time getting used to - especially if you have no previous experience with D&D-based games - but the developer has really done an excellent job of providing extensive information on the gameplay mechanics both in the game itself (through the in-game help section and feedback system) as well as on this website. If you take the time to read the relevant sections once you run into something you don't quite understand, it shouldn't be too difficult to get into it.

And, yes, there are random encounters both on the overworld map and in dungeons (both of which can be toggled on and off from the Options menu, by the way).

IIRC, arrows can be bought at the first store you encounter, the dwarf guy on the top level of the Knights Of The Chalice castle (same floor as the head honcho dude). They are dirt cheap and stack well into the hundreds, so you should have no problems.

To see your remaining spells, select a character using the 'eye' context button (right click to cycle between context buttons), then go to 'spells'. There will be a list of spell icons for each spell level, with a number like 3/3 next to them. This would mean you have 3 casts out of a possible 3 left for that spell level. 1/3 would mean u have 1 cast left for that level, etc. Don't forget to rest after every battle if possible.

The 'Cast a spell' action will not appear on the action menu during battle if your caster has run out of spells.

I recommend you try to avoid using the 'scribe scroll' feat as it chews up XP and gold, both of which you will need for other things.

If you are having trouble with specific encounters, post them here and I will give you advice as to what you should do.

For example with the spiders in the cave, you should not be going anywhere near the big spider area (the one with the Spider Queen) for a while yet, because she is extremely hard to take down. Even the minor giant spiders are extremely tough early on (this is coming from someone who knows the D&D system like the back of his hand). In fact this is probably the most difficult game I have played in a while, its very unforgiving and frustrating.

I'm not sure what encounter you are referring to when you say 'lizard men'.

Yup... Grace Nakimura to be exact. I mainly retro adventure game. I love classic adventure games and basically think computer games stopped being good about late 90s. Well not just adventure games, any heavily story driven game really. In cRPG world.. I think Fallout-1, baldur's gate, Ultima III, Plansescape, Wizardry 4, eye of the beholder.. hmm was going to list my favs but yea when you do that more and more games just start coming to mind. Anyway.. I kinda gave up on cRPGs when they started to become more action orientated and all 3D and retarded. About a few years ago I just totally gave up on modern games and basically regressed into full retro gaming. After a year of so I opened a youtube channel where I do game reviews and chat about my opinions of games as a kind of hobby. This hobby ended up being pretty fun and has in a way solidified me into retro gaming.

Anyway, I found this game as I was looking for a good retro rpg game that I haven't played so I started browsing some of the rpg scene sites Google found for me. From them I found mention and links to this game and stuff, and thought I would give it a go. The classic interface and style is a big appeal to me. I thought "Hey here is a game were the designers are defiantly old school players, therefor it may have some of the charm of the old games, as in story and gameplay over trying to overheat my gfx card"

So far I am really into it, though it is really hard. As Yosharian said because I am not a super hardcore D&D player, I am just unsure about the game mechanics. Like, witch spells are good ideas to get.. stuff like that. I know you have spent a lot of effort to explain it all in detail, but I think it might be so clear to most people on this site as you already are fairly familiar with its concepts. Personally the instructions are more "glossary / encyclopedia" style to remind you of how "it is done in THIS game", rather than explaining it in a "instructional way" from scratch. Still I refuse to re-roll, in a way not knowing is increasing the "growing as a character" thing, rather than "breaking the code" sorta idea where you know what you basically need to be ubr powerful.

I also make my own homebrew adventure games with the WME engine (a freeware adventure game engine) So i know how hard homebrew gamedev is even if my attempts are just hobby freeware and this is a serious thing. In fact I have been considering adding a new section to my channel that focus on underground / indie gaming. So I may do this game or something.. not sure yet.

Anyway, it is fun so far. I have finally cleared the lizard men from the town, and cleared the first part of the orc tower. I still die trying to do the spiders / skeletons, right of the entrance to the caves were the friendly bears are, also the 2nd part of the orcs were there are two giants is instant death for me... and that is about it.. I have tried going to a few other location on the world map but they are all instant death so far.. so I am basically still just trying to level up some on random world encounters....

I'll keep you posted(wow what a long post.. heh.. guess that is what happens when your wife and kids are not at home and you hate watching TV and haven't found a good book to read for a few days!!)

I have tried going to a few other location on the world map but they are all instant death so far.. so I am basically still just trying to level up some on random world encounters....

Yes it's a good idea to gain one or two levels from small random-encounter fights in the region around the KotC tower and orc stockade. There's no level scaling of enemies so when you come back to the 'story' fights you will find them easier. Also, if not already done, I suggest setting "maximum HP on level-up".

'Say there is a chunk of meat. Pirates will have a banquet and eat it! But heroes will share it with other people. I want all the meat!!' - Luffy in One Piece